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Abstract:

A substrate transport apparatus including a lower linearly driven
effector structure with spaced paddles, and an upper linearly driven end
effector structure with spaced paddles and no rotating joints above a
paddle of the lower end effector structure. A drive subsystem is
configured to linearly drive the lower end effector structure and to
linearly drive the upper end effector structure independent of the lower
end effector structure.

Claims:

1. A substrate transport apparatus comprising: a lower linearly driven
end effector structure with spaced paddles; an upper linearly driven end
effector structure with spaced paddles and no rotating joints above a
paddle of the lower end effector structure; and a drive subsystem
configured to linearly drive the lower end effector structure and to
linearly drive the upper end effector structure independent of the lower
end effector structure.

2. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 1 in which the upper
linearly driven end effector structure includes a fork member mounted to
a shuttle.

3. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 2 in which the drive
subsystem includes means for driving the shuttle.

4. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 3 in which the means for
driving the shuttle includes linear bearings, magnet levitation means, a
linear motor, and/or a belt arrangement.

5. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 1 in which the lower
linearly driven end effector structure includes a fork member mounted to
a shuttle.

6. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 5 in which the drive
subsystem includes means for driving said shuttle.

7. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 6 in which the means for
driving said shuttle includes linear bearings, magnetic levitation means,
a linear motor, and/or a belt arrangement.

8. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 1 further including a
support structure for the upper and lower end effectors.

9. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 8 further including a
rotational drive for the support structure.

10. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 8 in which the support
structure includes pulley mounts for linearly driving the upper and lower
end effector structures via pulleys.

11. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 10 in which the drive
subsystem includes a shuttle of the end effector structure secured to a
belt about pulleys on the pulley mounts.

12. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 11 in which the drive
subsystem includes a driven pulley for each end effector belt.

13. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 1 in which the drive
subsystem includes a first scara arm on a support structure and the upper
linearly driven end effector structure includes a fork member attached to
the first scara arm.

14. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 13 in which the first
scara arm is attached to the fork member at a location between the
paddles of the lower end effector.

15. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 13 in which the drive
subsystem includes two scara arms mounted to the support structure
driving the lower end effector structure.

16. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 15 in which the two scara
arms are driven together.

17. A substrate transport apparatus comprising: a lower linearly driven
fork with spaced paddles; a upper linearly driven fork with spaced
paddles; a first shuttle for the lower fork; a second shuttle for the
upper fork; a support structure; and a drive subsystem supported by the
support structure configured to linearly drive the first shuttle and the
second shuttle independent of the first shuttle.

18. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 17 in which the drive
subsystem includes a linear motor.

19. The substrate transport apparatus of claim 17 in which the support
structure includes pulley mounts and the drive subsystem includes first
and second belts about pulleys on the pulley mounts, the first and second
shuttle secured to the first and second belts, respectively.

20. A substrate transport apparatus comprising: a support structure; an
upper linearly driven fork with spaced paddles; a first scara arm
rotatably mounted to the support structure driving the upper fork; second
and third scara arms rotably mounted to the support structure and driven
together; a first lower paddle driven by the second scara arm; and a
second lower paddle driven by the third scara arm.

Description:

RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional
Application Ser. No. 61/669,812 filed Jul. 10, 2012 under 35 U.S.C.
§§119, 120, 363, 365, and 37 C.F.R. §1.55 and §1.78
and is incorporated herein by this reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The disclosed embodiments relate to a robot having an arm with
multiple end effectors and more particularly to a robot having one or
more arms with multiple end effectors, each supporting two substrates.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Vacuum, atmospheric and controlled environment processing for
applications such as associated with manufacturing of semiconductor, LED,
Solar, MEMS or other devices utilize robotics and other forms of
automation to transport substrates and carriers associated with
substrates to and from storage locations, processing locations, or other
locations. Such transport of substrates may be moving individual
substrates, groups of substrates with single arms transporting one or
more substrates or with multiple arms, each transporting one or more
substrate.

[0004] In some applications it is advantageous to transport and process
more than one substrate in parallel. Here, throughput of a given tool may
be increased without a proportionate increase in footprint and cost. In
addition, such applications may require the ability of the transport
robot to quickly swap processed substrates for unprocessed substrates at
a given process module, improving utilization of the module and
throughput of the system. A problem arises in such applications where
four substrates (two processed, two unprocessed) are handled with a fast
swap where the arms of the robot are required to pass over the substrates
or where a bridge is used on one of the two substrate end effectors to
allow it to pass over the other two substrate end effector. If the upper
structure includes a rotational joint which passes over the lower
structure and/or a wafer carried by the lower structure, contamination is
possible. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,512 incorporated herein by this
reference. A bridge associated with the upper structure can be unwieldy,
cumbersome, and difficult to tune. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,008
incorporated herein by this reference. A substrate transport apparatus in
accordance with various examples of the invention has no upper rotating
joins passing over a lower wafer and a bridge is not required or needed.
Accordingly, there is a desire to provide a substrate transport robot
that does not require such a bridge for a given range of transport
applications with minimized transport and swap times.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] Featured is a substrate transport apparatus in accordance with
various examples of the invention that in one preferred embodiment has no
upper rotating joints passing over a lower wafer. Furthermore, in
preferred embodiments, a bridge is not required or needed.

[0006] Featured is a substrate transport apparatus comprising a lower,
linearly driven end effector structure with spaced paddles and also an
upper, linearly driven end effector structure with spaced paddles. There
are no rotating joints above a paddle of the lower end effector
structure. A drive subsystem is configured to linearly drive the lower
end effector structure and to linearly drive the upper end effector
structure independent of the lower end effector structure.

[0007] The upper linearly driven end effector structure may include a fork
member mounted to a shuttle and the drive subsystem includes means for
driving the shuttle: linear bearings, magnet levitation means, a linear
motor, and/or a belt arrangement. The lower linearly driven end effector
structure may include a fork member mounted to a shuttle and similar
means for driving the lower fork shuttle.

[0008] The substrate transport apparatus may include a support structure
for the upper and lower end effectors and a rotational drive for the
support structure. In one example, the support structure includes pulley
mounts for linearly driving the upper and lower end effector structures
via pulleys and the drive subsystem includes a shuttle secured to a belt
about pulleys on the pulley mounts. The drive subsystem may include a
driven pulley for each end effector belt.

[0009] In another design, the drive subsystem includes a first scara arm
on a support structure and the upper linearly driven end effector
structure includes a fork member attached to the first scara arm. The
first scara arm may be attached to the fork member at a location between
the paddles of the lower end effector. The drive subsystem may further
include two scara arms mounted to the support structure driving the lower
end effector structure. Preferably, these two scara arms are driven
together.

[0010] Also featured is a substrate transport apparatus comprising a lower
linearly driven fork with spaced paddles, an upper linearly driven fork
with spaced paddles, a first shuttle for the lower fork, and a second
shuttle for the upper fork. A drive subsystem is supported by a support
structure and is configured to linearly drive the first shuttle and the
second shuttle independent of the first shuttle.

[0011] In one example, the drive subsystem includes a linear motor. In
another example, the support structure includes pulley mounts and the
drive subsystem includes first and second belts about pulleys on the
pulley mounts, the first and second shuttles secured to the first and
second belts, respectively. In another example, the drive subsystem
includes a plurality of scara arms.

[0012] Also featured is a substrate transport apparatus comprising a
support structure, an upper linearly driven fork with spaced paddles, a
first scara arm rotatably mounted to the support structure driving the
upper fork, second and third scara arms rotatably mounted to the support
structure and driven together, a first lower paddle driven by the second
scara arm, and a second lower paddle driven by the third scara arm.

[0013] The subject invention, however, in other embodiments, need not
achieve all these objectives and the claims hereof should not be limited
to structures or methods capable of achieving these objectives.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] Other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled
in the art from the following description of a preferred embodiment and
the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0015] FIG. 1A is a schematic top view of an embodiment of a substrate
transport apparatus in accordance with the invention;

[0016] FIG. 1B is a side view of the substrate transport apparatus shown
in FIG. 1A;

[0020] FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an exemplary rotary drive unit
in accordance with examples of the invention;

[0021] FIG. 5 is a schematic three dimensional top view showing an
embodiment of a substrate transport apparatus where a driven pulley,
idler pulley(s), and belt subsystem is used as the drive subsystem to
linearly drive the end effector structures in accordance with an example
of the invention;

[0022] FIG. 6 is a schematic three dimensional bottom view of the
substrate transport apparatus shown in FIG. 5;

[0023] FIGS. 7A and 7B are schematic top views showing an example of a
substrate transport apparatus in accordance with an example of the
invention where scara arms are used as the drive subsystem to linearly
drive the upper and lower end effector structures;

[0024] FIGS. 8A and 8B are schematic top views showing another example of
a substrate transport apparatus where scara arms are used in the drive
subsystem to linearly translate the upper and lower end effector
structures; and

[0025] FIGS. 9A and 9B are top views of the apparatus show in FIG. 8A
showing more clearly the support structure thereof and the bases of the
scara arms rotatably coupled thereto.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0026] Aside from the preferred embodiment or embodiments disclosed below,
this invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or
being carried out in various ways. Thus, it is to be understood that the
invention is not limited in its application to the details of
construction and the arrangements of components set forth in the
following description or illustrated in the drawings. If only one
embodiment is described herein, the claims hereof are not to be limited
to that embodiment. Moreover, the claims hereof are not to be read
restrictively unless there is clear and convincing evidence manifesting a
certain exclusion, restriction, or disclaimer.

[0027] Featured is a linear robot arm with multiple end-effectors which is
suitable for handling semiconductor substrates in vacuum cluster tools
with side-by-side workstations. Alternately any suitable substrate or
tool type may be provided. Referring to FIGS. 1-2, there is shown
diagrammatically the top view, side view and front view of the present
robot with transport arm 10. The robot arm may include support structure
12, an upper linearly driven end effector structure or subassembly 14, a
lower linearly driven end effector structure or subassembly 16, and drive
module 18. The upper 14 and lower 16 movable subassemblies may be
arranged so that they may move along a common direction with respect to
the support structure 12. Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the upper and lower
end effectors are each fork members with two prongs 22 and 24 terminating
in paddles 15a and 15b for upper fork 14 and paddles 17a and 17b for
lower fork 16. Each paddle carries a substrate as shown.

[0028] The upper movable subassembly 14 may be mounted to shuttle 20. The
shuttle 20 may be coupled to the support structure 12 so that it may move
linearly along a substantially straight line 40 with respect to the
support structure 12. In the embodiment shown, the upper assembly 14 and
lower assembly 16 are shown in a nested configuration to avoid
interference of the respective slide and drive components. Further, the
split configuration shown avoids the need for bridges that otherwise
would be needed to avoid interference between one or more substrate 28,
on each moveable subassembly with respect to the other. In alternate
aspects and as will be described, any suitable nested geometry may be
provided to support assemblies 14, 16 that avoids the use of a bridge.

[0029] The drive subsystem may include a linear motor including one or
more linear bearings attached to the shuttle 20 and one or more rails
connected to the support structure 12. A contactless, for instance, drive
based on a magnetic levitation principle may be used. A suitable
shielding or sealing arrangement, for instance, a labyrinth type of an
arrangement, may be employed if a mechanical coupling is used to prevent
contamination of the surrounding environment by particles potentially
produced in the mechanical coupling. The shuttle may be actuated with
respect to the support structure, for example, using a belt, a cable, a
ball screw or any suitable actuation arrangement. The linear motor
actuator may be attached to the robot arm or it may be part of an
external robot drive unit coupled to the robot arm via a shaft or another
suitable coupling mechanism. The support structure may include a rail and
the shuttle may ride on the rail.

[0030] The upper movable subassembly 14 may include a shuttle 20, a left
prong 22 and a right prong 24. The left prong 22 may be connected to the
shuttle 20 on the left-hand side, and may support paddle 15a configured
to carry a payload, for instance, a semiconductor substrate. The right
prong 24 may be connected to the shuttle 20 on the right-hand side and
may support an end-effector paddle 15b configured to carry a payload, for
instance, a semiconductor substrate.

[0031] Similarly, the lower movable fork subassembly (16) may include
shuttle 30, a left prong 32 and a right prong 34. The left substructure
32 may be connected to the shuttle 30 on the left-hand side, and may
support an end-effector paddle 17a configured to carry a payload, for
instance, a semiconductor substrate. The right substructure 34 may be
connected to the shuttle 30 on the right-hand side, and may support an
end-effector paddle 17b configured to carry a payload, for instance, a
semiconductor substrate. Shuttle 30 may be coupled to the support
structure so that it may move along a substantially straight line 40 with
respect to the support structure. The direction of motion of the shuttle
of the lower movable subassembly may be substantially parallel to the
direction of motion of the shuttle of the upper movable subassembly.

[0032] Independent motion of the upper and lower fork structures is
preferred. Note the lack of any rotating joint or possible generator of
particles associated with upper fork 14 located above the substrates
carried by lower fork 16.

[0033] The drive subsystem for the lower fork 16 may be configured to
drive shuttle 30 utilizing a linear motor. In one version, one or more
linear bearings are attached to the shuttle and one or more rails are
connected to the support structure. A contactless linear motor may be
based on a magnetic levitation principle. A suitable shielding or sealing
arrangement, for instance, a labyrinth type of an arrangement, may be
employed if a mechanical coupling is used to prevent contamination of the
surrounding environment by particles potentially produced in the
mechanical coupling. The shuttle may be actuated with respect to the
support structure, for example, using a belt, a cable, a ball screw or
any other suitable linear actuation arrangement. The actuator may be
attached to the robot arm or it may be part of an external robot drive
unit coupled to the robot arm via a shaft or another suitable coupling
mechanism. The support structure may include a cantilevered rail and the
shuttle may be driven on the rail.

[0034] The upper movable subassembly 14 may be extended into a workstation
36, FIG. 1A to pick a pair of substrates using the end effectors paddles
of the upper movable subassembly from the workstation, or place a pair of
substrate paddles using the end-effectors of the upper movable
subassembly onto the workstation. FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C shows
diagrammatically the upper movable subassembly in such an extended
position.

[0035] Similarly, the lower movable subassembly 16 may be extended into a
workstation 36, FIG. 1A to pick a pair of substrates using the
end-effectors paddles of the lower movable subassembly from the
workstation, or place a pair of substrates using the end-effectors of the
lower movable subassembly onto the workstation. FIGS. 3A, 3B and 3C
depict the lower movable subassembly 16 in its extended position. A fast
swap of a processed pair of substrates for a fresh pair of substrates may
be achieved by picking the processed pair of substrates from a
workstation 36, for example, by the end-effectors of the upper movable
subassembly 14, and placing a pair of fresh substrates onto the
workstation 36, for instance, using the end-effectors of the lower
movable subassembly 16. Alternatively, the upper and lower movable
subassemblies may exchange their roles in the fast swap operation.

[0036] The support structure 12 may be coupled to a rotary drive unit 18
which may be utilized to rotate the robot arm with respect to an axis of
rotation substantially perpendicular to the direction of motion of the
upper 14 and lower 16 movable subassemblies, for instance, to orient the
robot arm toward a workstation. Furthermore, the rotary drive unit may be
coupled to a vertical drive unit as seen in FIG. 4 which may be utilized
to adjust the vertical position of the robot arm with respect to a
workstation and pick a pair of substrates using the end-effectors of the
upper or lower movable subassembly from the workstation, or place a pair
of substrates using the end-effectors of the upper or lower movable
subassembly onto the workstation.

[0037] This embodiment is merely exemplary. In alternate aspects, as will
be described below with respect to alternate aspects of the disclosed
embodiment, the slides and drive components may be packaged differently,
for example, where upper end effector structure assembly 14 has slide
and/or drive components on a left side of the system 10 and where lower
end effector structure assembly 16 has slide and/or drive components on a
right side of the system 10 with assemblies 14, 16 nested in a horizontal
plane. In alternate aspects, the slides and drive components may be
packaged differently, for example, where upper assembly 14 and lower
assembly have slide and/or drive components on both a left and right side
of the system 10 with assemblies 14, 16 nested in a horizontal plane.
Further, system 10 may be configured with more than one rotary drive
where, by way of example, the support structure 12 includes two separate
support structures respectively for assemblies 14, 16 and where the
separate support structures are driven independently by the more than one
rotary drives such that they may independently access different modules.
Similarly, system 10 may be configured with more than one vertical Z
drive corresponding to each rotary drive where, by way of example, the
support structure 12 may have two separate support structures
respectively for assemblies 14, 16 and where the separate support
structures are driven independently by the more than one rotary drives
and vertical Z drives such that they may independently access different
modules 36. Further, alternate configurations may be provided to drive
shuttle portion 20, 30 either alone or in combination. By way of example,
a two bar linkage may be provided (e.g., a segmented frog leg arm)
respectively for each segment 14, 16 driven concentric with or offset
from the rotary axis of drive 18. By way of further example, a
constrained two bar linkage may be provided (e.g., 2 link partial scara
linkage) respectively for each segment 14, 16 driven concentric with or
offset from the rotary axis of drive 18.

[0038] Drive 18 may be any suitable vacuum compatible drive module. For
example, drive 18 may be a concentric two axis rotary drive where a first
of the rotary axis drives support 12 and where a second rotary axis
drives both segment 14 and segment 16 independently, for example, with a
linkage that substantially drives segment 14 through a first rotating
portion of second rotary axis and where the linkage substantially drives
segment 16 through a second rotating portion of second rotary axis.
Alternately, drive 18 may be a three axis rotary drive with one or more Z
drive components. For example, drive 18 may have a primary rotary axis
with first and second rotary axis offset with respect the primary rotary
axis where, for example, first and second rotary axis drive segment 14,
16 independently respectively on left and right sides of system 10 and
where first and second rotary axis may also be driven by the Z axis and
the primary rotary axis together, independently in Z or independently
with respect to the primary axis. By way of further example, drive 18 may
have a primary rotary axis with first and linear motor axis offset
horizontally or vertically with respect the primary rotary axis where,
for example, first and second rotary axis drive segment 14, 16
independently respectively on upper and lower portions or left and right
sides of system 10 and where first and second linear motor axis may also
be driven by one or more z axis and one or more primary rotary axis
together, independently in Z or independently with respect to both or
either of the one or more primary rotary axis and one or more z axis.
Accordingly, all such combinations are embraced.

[0039] Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a schematic cross section
of exemplary drive assembly 18. Drive assembly 18 is shown having three
rotary axis and a single vertical axis. In alternate aspects, more or
less axis may be provided. By way of example, in one aspect, drive 18 may
be configured with a single rotary axis and a single vertical axis that
may be provided and coupled to the arm support structure 12 of FIGS. 1
through 3 and operable as described. Alternately, three rotary axis and a
single vertical axis may be provided to drive arms as will be described
in greater detail below. Drive 18 is shown having concentric drive
shafts. In alternate aspects, any suitable drive shaft or driving
arrangement, parallel, linear or otherwise may be provided. Drive 18 has
enclosure 102 that houses first, second and third rotary axises 104, 106
and 108 respectively. First rotary axis 104 has motor 110, encoder 112
and output shaft 114 concentrically mounted with respect to mast 116 of
enclosure 102. Seal 118 may isolate a vacuum environment 120 from an
atmospheric environment 122. In alternate aspects, seal 118 may not be
provided, for example, where all or a portion of enclosure 102 is exposed
to the vacuum environment. Second rotary axises 106 has motor 126,
encoder 128 and output shaft 130 concentrically mounted with respect to
shaft 114 of first rotary axis 104. Seal 132 may isolate a vacuum
environment 120 from an atmospheric environment 122. In alternate
aspects, seal 132 may not be provided, for example, where all or a
portion of enclosure 102 is exposed to the vacuum environment third
rotary axis 108 has motor 136, encoder 138 and output shaft 140
concentrically mounted with respect to shaft 130 of second rotary axis
106. Seal 142 may isolate a vacuum environment 120 from an atmospheric
environment 122. In alternate aspects, seal 142 may not be provided, for
example, where all or a portion of enclosure 102 is exposed to the vacuum
environment. Lead screw drive 150 may be coupled to stationary frame and
having motor & encoder 154, screw 156 and moveable nut assembly 158 where
nut assembly 158 may be stationarily coupled to housing 102. Slides 170
may be provided having rails 172 couple to frame 152 and moveable blocks
174 stationarily coupled to housing 102. Bellows 180 may be provided
coupled to housing 102, chamber 182 and/or frame 152 such that a vacuum
environment 120 may be maintained isolated from and atmospheric
environment 122 with an internal portion of chamber 182, bellows 180
and/or housing 102 may be exposed to the vacuum environment 120.
Selective rotation of screw 156 moves housing 102 in a vertical direction
184 and with it mast 116 and shafts 114, 130, 140. In one aspect only a
single rotary axis 104 may be provided, for example, coupling shaft 114
to support structure 12 of FIGS. 1-3. In alternate aspects, drive 18 may
be configured to drive alternate arm configurations, for example as
described below.

[0040] Referring now to FIGS. 5 and 6, there is shown an exemplary
embodiment drive subsystem 200 having features according to one
embodiment. Here, a system of pulleys and bands linearly drive the upper
and lower end effector structures. System 200 has robot drive 18 and arm
202 where arm 20 may have features as described or as will be described
below. Arm 20 has support 12' and first and second driven segments 14'
and 16' respectively. Support 12' has base 204 coupled to shaft 114, FIG.
4 of drive 18. Here, rotation of shafts 114, 130 and 140 of drive 18
together effects rotation of the arm assembly 202, FIGS. 5-6. As will be
described, selectively holding shaft 114 stationary and then selectively
rotating shafts 130, 140 FIG. 4 will effect radial extension and
retraction of linearly driven upper and lower fork member 14' and 16'
respectively, FIGS. 5-6 and as will be described. Shaft 130, FIG. 4 is
coupled to pulley 186 where pulley 186 is coupled to pulley 210 of
jackshaft 212 with FIG. 8 bands 214. Here, jackshaft 212 is rotatably
coupled to base plate 204. Jackshaft 212 further has pulley 216 that may
be a larger diameter than pulley 214. Here, rotation of pulley 186
effects opposite rotation of pulleys 210 and 216. First and second posts
are coupled to base 204 and have support 224 coupled to and spanning
between first and second posts 220, 222. A shuttle is provided coupling
driven segment 14' to support 224.

[0044] Referring now to FIGS. 7A and 7B, there is shown an exemplary
embodiment of another drive system 300 having features according to the
disclosed embodiment. System 300 has robot drive 18 and arm 302 where arm
302 may have features as described or as will be described below. Arm 302
has support 12'' and first and second driven end effector segment 14''
and 16'' respectively. Support 12'' has base 304 coupled to shaft 114 of
drive 18. Here, rotation of shafts 114, 130 and 140 FIG. 4 of drive 18
together effects rotation of the arm assembly 302. As will be described,
selectively holding shaft 114 stationary and then selectively rotating
shafts 130, 140 will effect radial extension and retraction of driven
segments 14'' and 16'' respectively and as will be described. Shaft 140
selectively drives inner scara arm 310 FIG. 7 while shaft 130 selectively
drives opposing scara arms 312, 314 as will be described. Here shaft 140
is coupled to upper arm 320 of scara arm 310 with a shoulder pulley (not
shown) of scara arm 310 grounded to base 304 such that counterclockwise
rotation of shall 140 effects extension of arm 310 and clockwise rotation
of shaft 140 effects retraction of arm 310. Shaft 130 selectively drives
opposing scara arms 312, 314 simultaneously as will be described. Here
shaft 130 is coupled to upper arm 340 of scara arm 312 by a 1:1 pulley
drive 342 with a shoulder pulley (not shown) of scara arm 312 grounded to
base 304 such that counterclockwise rotation of shaft 130 effects
extension of arm 312 and clockwise rotation of shaft 130 effects
retraction of arm 312. Similarly shaft 130 is coupled to upper arm 350 of
scara arm 314 by a -1:1 FIG. 8 pulley drive 344 with a shoulder pulley
(not shown) of scara arm 314 grounded to base 304 such that
counterclockwise rotation of shaft 130 effects extension of arm 314 and
clockwise rotation of shaft 130 effects retraction of arm 314. Here,
scara aim 310 may be nested within scara arm 312 as shown in elevation.
Here, selective rotation of shafts 130, 140 effects selective extension
of driven segments 14'', 16''. Note upper fork 14'' is coupled to scara
arm 310 at a location between paddles 17a and 17b of lower linearly
driven end effector structure 16''.

[0045] Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, there is shown an exemplary
embodiment drive system 400 having features according to the disclosed
embodiment. System 400 has robot drive 18 and arm 402 where arm 402 may
have features as described or as will be described below. Arm 402 has
support 12''' and first and second driven segments 14''' and 16'''
respectively. Support 12''' has base 404 coupled to shaft 114 of drive
18. Here, rotation of shafts 114, 130 and 140, FIG. 4 of drive 18
together effects rotation of the arm assembly 402.

[0047] Although specific features of the invention are shown in some
drawings and not in others, this is for convenience only as each feature
may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with
the invention. The words "including", "comprising", "having", and "with"
as used herein are to be interpreted broadly and comprehensively and are
not limited to any physical interconnection. Moreover, any embodiments
disclosed in the subject application are not to be taken as the only
possible embodiments.

[0048] In addition, any amendment presented during the prosecution of the
patent application for this patent is not a disclaimer of any claim
element presented in the application as filed: those skilled in the art
cannot reasonably be expected to draft a claim that would literally
encompass all possible equivalents, many equivalents will be
unforeseeable at the time of the amendment and are beyond a fair
interpretation of what is to be surrendered (if anything), the rationale
underlying the amendment may bear no more than a tangential relation to
many equivalents, and/or there are many other reasons the applicant can
not be expected to describe certain insubstantial substitutes for any
claim element amended.

[0049] Other embodiments will occur to those skilled in the art and are
within the following claims.

Patent applications by Christopher Hofmeister, Hampstead, NH US

Patent applications by Dennis Poole, Derry, NH US

Patent applications by Martin Hosek, Lowell, MA US

Patent applications by PERSIMMON TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION

Patent applications in class LOAD CARRIED ALONG A HORIZONTAL LINEAR PATH (E.G., PICK AND PLACE TYPE)

Patent applications in all subclasses LOAD CARRIED ALONG A HORIZONTAL LINEAR PATH (E.G., PICK AND PLACE TYPE)